The Balcony View

I still do not have a drone, but at first glance it may seem like an aerial photo, but it is not 🙂 This is the view of the balcony of Italy, an amazing place between Italy and Switzerland. In particular this incredible view is on the mountain of Sighignola for the occasion often called the balcony of Italy for the view overlooking the lake of Lugano

The place is reached by a small road that crosses the mountains, the place once reached is a large terrace overlooking this view that you see. Since I took this picture in December here at 1300 meters the wind was very cold and very strong. I did all very wide bracketing to capture the whole dynamic range between the strong light of the horizon and the shadows near the lake

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I stacked all the shots into layers and I blended them using luminosity masks, I started from the darker shots to end with the brightest to reach the right luminosity balance

Using my panel, I launched details and dodge and burn to increase lights around the darker parts of the mountain. After a soft orton effect I fixed lights and darks using luminosity masks applied to curves layer to increase the luminosity of the sky and the darker parts of the image

I fixed color cast and I increase the yellows using a warming filter, with the clone stamp tool I removed some spots and some other littl unwanted element in the frame

As always I hope you will find all this usefull. I’m happy to ear this from you!

I always wanted to go to visit this place, so I took advantage of my last trip to Trentino to reach it. The lakeResia is one of the most fascinating places in the Alp, the bell tower is all that remains of the ancient city of Curon Venosta that was submerged by water after the construction of a dam

Although in summer it is nice to see the bell tower emerging from the water but in winter it is nice to be able to reach this ancient bell tower on foot

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

For this image I used a single shot so I did not use the luminosity masks to make a digital blending but to fix the light shadows and contrasts in the image. I fixed the color cast giving a slight imprint of yellow to light

After incrased details using TTS Fast Panel I added contrast in the fram using luminosity masks applied to midtones curves. As final step I fixed the last lights using levels adjustment layer

I hope you will find this informations usefull. I’m always happy to ear it from you!

The famous Ponte dei Sospiri in Venice gives this name because tradition has it that, at the time of the Serenissima, the prisoners, crossing it, sighed in front of the prospect of seeing for the last time the outside world

The bridge is one of the most popular destinations in the lagoon city and that small space that faces the bridge is photographed by thousands of tourists every day, making its way through the crowd is not easy practically at all hours of the day

I made this frame from some bracketing shots handheld, I then used the brightest shots to lighten the areas of shadows inside the canal

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

As I mentioned above, I used the brightest shots to lighten the shadow areas of the channel, obviously helping me with the luminosity masks applied to the darks. Once this sets done, I corrected the color cast and I applied a warmer filter mixing it with a colder filter

I applied details, dodge and burn and orton effect using my panel. I fixed lights and darks using luminosity masks applied to curves layer, creating the right contrast between sky and buildings

As final step I launched a vignette slightly increasing the light in the central part of the frame

I hope you will find all this informations usefull. I love to ear it from you!

Always from the famous Piazza San Marco, looking at the Grand Canal I take this long exposure from he gondolas dock located in the square

Compared to the previous shot I changed point of view, this is as I mentioned above in the main dock of San Marco, I love the stark contrast of the movements of the boats opposed to the static of the dock

Also here I used a ND64 filter applied to 5 exposures brackets to this shot, to have a dark sky from the underexposed frame and I very smooth water from the overexposed one

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I used the most bright image as top layer and applying luminosity masks to have a nice view of long exposure on the sea and on the gondolas, I lowered the exposure of the sky and part of the water using the darker image

Once this done I applied a warm filter to increase the yellow effect of the sunset decreasing the opacity around 20%. After a use of dodge and burn under the dark areas of the docks I fixed darks and brights using luminosity masks applied to curves

With TTS Fast Panel I fixed details and contrasts, also applying a slight orton effect to the image. I darkened the image and raised the vibrance of the colors excluding the effect from the blue of the gondolas that became too intense

As always I hope you will find this info usefull. I’m always happy to ear it from you!

Finally my first post of the year! This 2018 I start with a photo of Venice that I took some time ago, a city that I literally love and where I’m often the lucky to come back. This photo was taken from the famous Piazza San Marco, looking at the Grand Canal in the direction of the Giudecca Island, which is right in front of it

Here there is a beautiful view on canal and one of the different mooring points of the famous Venetian gondolas, the long exposure from this point is not perhaps the most original thing ever but personally I had never taken it, I can even check on this 🙂

I used a ND64 filter applied to 5 exposures brackets to this shot, to have a dark sky from the underexposed frame and I very smooth water from the overexposed one. When I shot it was late afternoon, just before sunset, fortunately in Venice despite the thousands of tourists every day this is a picture that you can do without too much difficulty

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I take this picture from 5 exposure brackets, I used them to digital blend the images obtaining the starting frame to the edits. The whole area around the poles was full of chromatic aberrations, which I had to manually remove with so much patience

I used dodge and burn to recover dark areas under the gondolas, I used luminosity masks to darken the sky and recover the shadows. Using my panel I launched high details and orton effect to slightly decrease the effect giving at the same time a soft dreamy look

I increased the yellow colors of the sky adding Skylight filter of Color efex pro, I added contrasts removing the dark areas from the selection to avoid too much darks around the gondolas, as final step I addded a vignette removing the effects near the gondolas

I love Siena, I come here about once a year, it’s a small city that offers a lot to visit and where you can eat very well 🙂 there are also lots of photographt spots here

One of the most popular shots in Siena is this, certainly I have not invented anything but it must be said that it is an interesting pov. I’m talking about the view of the Mangia Tower taken from the main entrance of the public building, once you enter the atrium just look up to get the view of the architectural perspective

I shot on this location at various times of the day and this photo with this light and those clouds, was the condition that I liked the most. Taken handheld with 3 bracketed shots

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I used luminosity masks to blend images and lighten the darker parts of building, with TTS Fast Panel I launched Dodge and burn to lighten the lights coming to the windows and emphatize this effect, from the panel I also launch details and sharpen

The picture needed a small color fix, so I adjust the yellow colors and decrease the lights coming from the hole of the building and the sky as well

I added contrast using midtones and after this I decreased the noise visible on the black parts, as final step I launched a hard vignette to give more contrast and look at the central part of the frame.

I hope you will find this usefull! I’m always happy to hear it from you!

When I take this picture I was on the beaches in Cilento valley, where one evening I stopped for this at sunset. This area as I said in some posts ago, is characterized by a great variety of natural scenarios, including the sea and the mountains. In this sunset photo I have just portrayed part of this variety including the colors of the beautiful landscapes that this part of Italy can offer

Also here as in the previous post I have taken a natural glow effect that was created with the lights of the sunset, with an intense yellow effect that also came on the rocks. It is a long exposure of 20 seconds made with ND64

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I blended two long exposures using luminosity masks, starting from the dark picture to brighten the foreground and the most black rocks.

I used Dodge and burn to made some adjustments on the rocks and on the water, using my panel I increased details and sharpen.

For the adjustments of colors I applied a warming filter to the lights masks and a cold filter to the darks playing with the opacity to create a mix between the two effects

As the final step I added contrast and fixed lights and darks

I will by proud if you will find this information usefull! I’m always happy to hear this from you

I captured this beach in the morning twilight, the photo is a long exposure of 20 seconds I did using a filter nd64 (6 stops). Cilento area has beautiful landscapes made up of mountains but also many beaches

When I take thi shot I was impressed and Ireally liked this beach, the view of the sea that was lost in the morning glow of the clouds on the horizon

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

This is a sinlge exposure so I don’t blend images but I made a ETTR, so the final picture was a bit overexposed but I used luminosity masks to decrease lights in the highlights and in the foreground to reach the effect I want from this

I used Dodge and burn to made some adjustments on the rocks and on the water, using my panel, I increased details and sharpen and by using a blue filter I increased the blue and purpe colors in the picture to give more cold look. With orton effect I increased the glow effect in the frame trying to give a dreamy look at the picture

Last edits was to increase contrast to give a more dark look on the rocks, emphatizing lights using again dodge and burn, the latest touch was adding a small vignette to the borders

I really hope you will like this and you will find this information usefull. I’m happy to hear this from you 🙂

I love Cilento, a mountainous area in southern Italy located in the province of Salerno that also offers beaches, waterfalls, rivers and characteristic villages. When I return to these areas I never miss the opportunity to take from this location, a house built on the rocks. I enjoyed this spot for many years now and every time I return to these places cannot miss the opportunity to take photos in that place

I made this shot at sunset with my 64 nd filter to capture all the water movements on the rocks, since there was still light high I did not use a value too high the shot is in fact of 30 seconds made with f9 in the direction of sunset

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I don’t make a digital blend for this, with the use of luminosity masks I simply fixed the lights and darks to make it more clear and have a image neutral. With Dodge and burn I made some adjustments on the darker parts of the rocks and the brighter parts of the sky, after this with clone stamp tool I remove some spots and a small boat on the horizon that becomes too blurry. With my panel I launched high details, orton effect to make some glow effect and sharpen

With luminosity masks applied to a cold filter I add some blue colors at the sky. I fixed contrast saving the rocks located below avoiding that become too darks, to make this just remove from a midtone selection the darks selection. As final touch I increased a little more the highlights and created a small vignette to emphatize the sunset

As always I hope you will find this usefull, I’m happy to hear this from you 🙂

Here is another waterfall shot coming from the Veneto region, we are in the area around Bassanodel Grappa where is this small waterfall in the valley Valrovina. Watching some pictures from the web, it seemed very interesting and so I decided to go to this small resort to take some photos

This spot is a well-maintained tourist trail that leads to this waterfall, the path continues to high following the course of the creek. There are several stones along the river where I set up with my tripod to shot at the waterfall

I wanted to bring in the frame as much as possible the view of the creek behind, which with the light of the trees was really very beautiful. I took the photo with an nd64 filter, taking some lighter exposures to try to light up some very dark rock areas

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

This shot coming from a blend of 2 exposure, I blend the best take of the waterfall with another overexposed shot, to bring up all the lights around the rocks

Using Dodge and burn was very useless to recover some underexposed part and increse lighting. After a increase of details I launched orton effect to create a soft dreamy effect, I like so much the glow between the trees on the top of the picture

To complete this work I increased yellow colors. As final I fixed contrast using luminosity mask applied to midtones decreasing the darkest parts to avoid to make too under the darken part of the picture

I hope you will find this usefull. I always love to hear this from you

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Hi, my name is Giuseppe Sapori, a professional photographer and author of this website, created by yours truly to show my work and share with you the techniques I use. My expertise is in the field of Landscape Photography... (Read More)